If you were going to buy a bunch of food storage. . .

[Guest]

what would you start with?

We've decided to convert some of our savings into food, since our few buckets of wheat and little bits of other things here and there really wouldn't take our family of 7 far if we needed them to. But since I've never really focused on our food storage beyond what our ward has helped get together at times, I'm not really sure where to start.

So if you were taking a chunk of money and buying a bunch of stuff at once, what would you buy?

[Wingnut]

Beans, rice, oats. My family eats a lot of Mexican food, and oats are a good multi-purpose grain other than wheat.

[NightSG]

what would you start with?

Land and cows. As long as you keep the beef walking, it stays fresh without refrigeration.

It also turns bland, boring vegetables into tasty steaks and milk.

[pam]

For me I would go and build up the 3 month supply that the church is focusing on now. The things that we use every day. Then if any money left over, start building up the long term items. The 3 month supply would also include non food items that we would need during that time.

[Guest]

The land and cows are a wish for the future. Thanks for the suggestions. I wish we had tons of money to put into it, but some will be better than none.

[Iggy]

We have sufficient short term storage right now - about 6 months worth - with the exception of water.

I took $700.00 and bought from Emergency Essentials long term storage: a pail of wheat. #10 cans of freeze dried: asparagus pieces, sweet corn, onion dices, celery dices, Asian flavored white chicken pieces, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Montery Jack Cheese, shredded Colby Cheese Mushroom slices, Green Pepper dices, chopped spinach, tomato chunks. Dehydrated carrot dices, minced garlic, butter powder, orange drink mix, Vegetarian Beef Broth & Vegetarian chicken broth. Apple Cinnamon muffin mix, honey cornbread mix, chocolate fudge brownie mix, split green peas, yellow popcorn, SAF Premium yeast 1 lb, & quick oats.

I won't be buying the muffin mixs, brownie mix, asparagus, pinto beans, split green peas. They are too costly through EE. Jiffy brand muffin mixes are $0.68 at Fred Meyer- BUT they do have shortening in them, so you need to vacuum seal (keep the bugs out) and store in a cool, dry place. Marie Callender's envelope mixes of Corn bread in 7 & 16 oz. sizes are great for the price. MC envelope mixes of Fudge Brownies are great! 10 oz cost $1.00 at the Dollar Store, and the 16 oz. one I got on sale at Walmart for $1.98. I have about 6 pounds of Crisco in the cubes. So I use that as the shortening in the cookie, brownie & etc. mixes. The cheapest popcorn is at Cash & Carry. 12 pound bag for a little over $7.00.

All of the dried beans are cheaper in bulk at Fred Meyer, then the next cheapest is bagged at Walmart, then Safeway.

If you like Rice A Roni & Pasta Roni, get it on sale and vacuum seal. Just don't let the vacuum seal go till it automatically ends. Stop it as soon as the plastic forms the box. Also, the store brands are just as good as the name brand.

Lipton Pasta and Rice sides are great - and they have a long shelf life. I just used some from 2006 - tasted fine. Walmart sells them for $0.98 each. Also sometimes Bi-Mart has them for $0.68 each ~ but you are limited to 6 or 8. I just take the first batch to the car, come back in and go through a different checker. Did this 5 times one day. I think they limit it so that Mom & Pop retail stores don't buy a case or six and then sell them for $1.79 each.

I do need to buy the FD Hamburger. That will be for long term storage. Add that to the Lipton Pasta side and you have your own version of Hamburger Helper - especially if you add a can of green beans and use the liquid from the beans to reconstitute the evaporated milk that the pasta side needs.

I plan on purchasing several (5 to 10 each) pails of Hard Red Wheat and Hard White Wheat from EE. They have the cleanest wheat and the price is comparable to the Church's wheat.

Oh, Cash & Carry has the 1 pound brick of SAF Premium yeast for $1.25 cheaper than EE - and you don't have to pay for shipping!

We eat a lot of stir fry meals. So I wanted to try out the FD vegetables. They are great. Just remember that you need to cook them a bit after you re-hydrate them. Also I save the extra liquid and freeze it for when I make soup or gravy. Oh and the dehydrated vegetables ~ put them in boiling water and COOK. Especially the carrots.

The long term foods should be the same foods you eat now. Just know that certain foods don't have a very long shelf life.

My short term has jars of cheese sauces (alfredo, etc.), tomato based sauces, all of which have only about a year shelf life. But for long term I have envelope mixes of the same. That is why I also have Butter Powder- to use with the Pasta Sides, etc.

Cake/Muffin/Corn bread mixes in boxes are short term if they already have shortening in them.

Canned tuna fish only has a 1 to 1.5 year shelf life. So rotate it. Jarred/canned Oysters, sardines & clams do not live past their use by date. But canned salmon does. I am still eating 2008 use by date salmon. Mayo & Miracle Whip really does die at the use by date (it is nasty!) - rotate it. If you have two jars of mayo and one is just opened and the other is at its use by date - use it to make chocolate cake! Chocolate Mayo Cake is fantastic! Use really close to expiring MWhip as a rub on chicken or turkey. I just add some herbs and spices and lather all over the turkey. Boy Howdy is ii good!

[mirkwood]

Work on your three month supply AND your long term at the same time. Although if you have a chunk of money that has come your way and you can meet your normal needs (regular foods), I would hit the long term hard. As you know I've been involved in preparedness for a long time. Take a look at my lesson and see what will work best for you guys, your circumstances/finances and what you want to accomplish.

Mirky's Easy Preparedness

I just taught this to a large family in my ward. They have chosen to increase their three month supply and at the same time start working up their long term storage through the cannery most likely buying the Starter Kits. That may work best for you as you have a larger family.

Remember, this is a lifestyle change if you are serious about prepping. It will take time to get to your year supply, but it can be done. Just get started and keep working at it.

[Iggy]

Also, one thing that I did this past winter ~ actually starting last April ~ was to sprout seeds and beans.

Fresh vegetables affected me in a rather unpleasant way ~ rather than hunt down local organically grown foods ~ I chose to sprout seeds. (extremely painful gut w/diarrhea)

GMO foods cannot reproduce - thus the seeds and beans for sprouting I was using are not GMO, and they do NOT affect me unpleasantly.

I went on-line to get my sprouting trays (no one had them locally), and bought a starter kit at the same time. Since then I get 90% of my seeds from the bulk section at Fred Meyers.

Dry beans: pinto, kidney, navy, great northern, etc. have to be cooked for your body to digest them. When sprouted, they increase their nutrition and decrease their flatulence dramatically. Rinse till water runs clear, soak overnight. Drain (use this first drain water to water your outside plants), rinse once more, drain and let sit another 24 hours. Can either let sit on counter top or in the fridge. Now you can cook them. This simple act of letting them sit an additional 24 hours nearly quadruples their nutrition value.

Sprouted seeds are also more nutritious than lettuces from the store. I quit eating Iceberg lettuce almost 10 years ago. I do like leafy lettuce (red & green) & romaine - but can not afford the 100% organic prices.

If you are reluctant to sprout seeds go to SproutPeople, The Grooviest Sprouting Seeds on Our Planet! and read, read, read. They explain pretty much everything about the seed: how to store, sprout, & eat. They offer recipes too! I don't like their sprouting kits, so I got mine from WheatGrass Kits Kitchen Crop Seed Sprouter by Victorio . Bought two and have them in use constantly.

My husband who really does not like salads - iceberg lettuce mostly, plus butter lettuce loves the sprouts! I thought he would turn away Mung Beans- but he likes them. I also sprout Lentils- until they have a bit longer "tail". You can then eat them raw or cook them. I thought I was going to have to whirl them up in my NurtiBullet - but Hubby likes them raw or cooked.

He likes garbanzos sprouted raw and cooked. I put garbanzo and lentils in his favorite homemade Spicy Mexican Chicken Tomato soup, along with celery, green & red bell peppers.

He also prefers spinach, fresh. I would love to be able to afford onion, broccoli & cabbage seeds (average $25.00 a pound!) Granted that pound would be a years supply or more!

I got black & yellow mustard seeds at Fred Meyer in their bulk section. Only bought two tablespoons worth- and then brought them home and sprouted them. Yep, they sprouted - so they are Non GMO- and the averaged cost is $6.19 a pound. The next shopping trip I bought a pound of each. I sprout them, and I also use them as a spice ~ whole &/or ground.

All of their seeds & beans I tested out first to make sure they sprouted, then I went and bought a pound or more.

Sometime this year I will buy in greater quantities and vacuum seal for my long term storage.

Another product that is a must for your home, is local honey. Honey is not only a sweetener, but it is also an analgesic, antiseptic and if you have asthma, allergies to pollen, and eat the local honey it acts as an immune booster. I have used honey on steam burns, bug bites (other than mosquitoes) and abrasions. Healed faster than when I used over the counter antibiotic salves. Store bought honey does not work. I have run out of my local honey (12 years ago I got a 5 gallon bucket for $5.00. The bee grower & his extended family are members of our Branch (inactive unfortunately - but still friendly to their HT & VT).

The honey from EE is local to Utah honey. That is great for those who live in the area - not so great for me here in Oregon. It is better than the store bought- as the pollen is still in it.

I have read Mirky's preparedness link - wonderful, most useful information. A must read!

Edited January 8, 2013 by Iggy

[EarlJibbs]

I did this last year. I started with a freez dried food package that will last my family of 6, 4 months by itself. I then started purchasing the staples like wheat, pasta...etc... to make those meals go further. For me having just a bunch of ingredients that I can make food with wouldnt work. I needed a type of meal plan, that is what the freeze dried items did. All ready to go, just add water, but I can add breads and sides to stretch those out.

That worked for me.

[LDSVALLEY]

what would you start with?

We've decided to convert some of our savings into food, since our few buckets of wheat and little bits of other things here and there really wouldn't take our family of 7 far if we needed them to. But since I've never really focused on our food storage beyond what our ward has helped get together at times, I'm not really sure where to start.

So if you were taking a chunk of money and buying a bunch of stuff at once, what would you buy?

First DO NOT take a chunk of money and buy a bunch of stuff at once. That means it will all expire at once.

1 Take an inventory of what your family regularly consumes.

2 Start watching flyers, sales etc and when those items are on sale use your "food Allowance" to purchase extra amounts.

3 When you buy food each week be sure to rotate with the items in your storage.

4 include items beyond food when on sale. I have a supply of 2*4's, tarps, motor oil, light bulbs etc. When I do a project, if I have the money, I'll buy a few extra whatever.

5 A steady pace is better then buying all at once. Not only does it allow better rotation you don't get burned out trying to store and rotate massive amounts of food.

6 Once you get to Critical Mass Food Storage ( when you have enough items stored that you can buy most of your food needs when they are on sale) you will find that you save money.

7 Take the time BEFORE you build a large food storage to plan and prepare where and how you are going to store it. If you are buying for emergency situations such as storms as apposed to unemployment situations remember to consider how you are going to heat\cook\prepare food. Water storage is cheap and easy to do as well and should not be neglected. We have 300 liters of water in 2 liter pop bottles just add a couple of teaspoons of bleach to each bottle of water.

8 Many members look at the emergency aspect of food storage first and dive into MRE's, 72 hour kits, and specialized packets. While these are of course useful and important I tend to tell members to begin with the basic food storage first then worry about the rest. Worst case if you had to evacuate take a dozen cans and freezer bags. When you safely have a minute open the cans, dump into freezer bags and you have a temporary MRE type meals for a few meals.

9 Look into canning, freeze drying etc as ways to increase food storage as well if practical in your situation.

10 As a family, talk about your goals, set a monthly budget to build your storage faster, who will do what, how will you rotate etc.

11 If possible try and store some food items on different levels of your home so if your basement floods for example in a storm you don't loose everything. I keep a couple of totes (waterproof plastic bins) by the main food storage. If we need to evacuate with the car I can through a weeks worth of food into them in a couple of minutes. Or if a storm threatens to flood the basement I can move it quickly. Our camping gear is in bins in our shed as well.

12 Many people will go out and buy a large supply and think they are done. Then five years later they end up tossing hundreds of dollars of expired product out and tell people food storage is a waste of money.

* I do encourage you to do food storage. We started 15 years ago and it has gotten us through several financial crises over the years. At present our income is 60% of what it was just two years ago. While things are tight and our debt load has been increasing each month we have been able to survive these last two years because of our food storage once again.

It can be a great feeling to stop and look at shelves of food and know that your family can eat if something bad happens. IN my experience the keys are to build up slowly over several months, make it a routine not a one shot deal, and ask lots of questions from others. What works for one person might not work for you so tailor for your families needs.

[EarlJibbs]

First DO NOT take a chunk of money and buy a bunch of stuff at once. That means it will all expire at once.

1 Take an inventory of what your family regularly consumes.

2 Start watching flyers, sales etc and when those items are on sale use your "food Allowance" to purchase extra amounts.

3 When you buy food each week be sure to rotate with the items in your storage....

QUOTE]

LDSVALLEY, this is all good advice. However Eowyn, just make sure you are organized enough to do it if you choose to follow it. For me, I was not and still am not. That is why I went with big bulk buy to start me off and then add to it.

If you have the funds now to purchase in bulk, my recommendation is to do it, you never know when you will need and slowly building up a storage over years will do you no good if you need it soon.

As far as it all expiring at the same time, you can still slowly use the items you have purchased and replace them if it is getting closer to expiration time. Especially if you have the shelf life of 30+ years. I eventually will learn to can and all that, but why not ensure you are prepaired today while ensuring you can stay prepared tomorrow.

[Guest DeborahC]

I have my year's supply but wanted to be sure.

I ordered the book from this website - but all the information is there for free if you peruse it.

I just liked the idea of having it all together.

They have "baby steps" that help you get started in the right order.

I found it to be excellent and found places my storage was lacking:

Food Storage Made Easy

[Guest]

I'm following that site's advice and making a list of some of the staples we use daily. Hopefully I can make a good shopping plan for stocking up on those things.

[Guest DeborahC]

The site has a LOT of information that is very helpful! Take a look at the "Baby Steps" program here:

BabySteps | Food Storage Made Easy

There is another website that requires a membership and she sends you the sales in all the stores in your area. I think it's about $50 for a year, but you can try it free for a week. I saved that my first shopping trip but can't afford to join right now. But as soon as I can, I will. It's advertised on this Food Storage Made Easy website.

For making a list of what you already have, they have a free food calculator that was really helpful for me on this website too.

Ok.. commercial break is over...

Good Luck!

[lds2]

Each of our families are so different and eat so differently and have different budgets, and ability to store in a cool dry place, etc.

Obviously buying the 3 month supply is important, yet the longer-term stuff is very cheap (less than $200 for the basics.) I get a lot of emotional security from having a "year supply" of these "basics." It can really supplement a three month supply well if you had to "live on it" for an extended period. It can also replace "fresh foods" and you can have "ready to eat" type foods simply by "adding water."

I've focused on things that can be sprouted as that meets my son's, with a special diet, needs for fresh foods and would greatly help with the nutritional needs of the entire family. I sprout using mason jars (youtube it) and it works very well for me. I have some black cheap plastic plant holders (that live garden plants come in at the nursery) that hold a lot of mason jars at one time at an angle. Garbanzos and lentils are my family's favorites as well.

If you live in the Intermountain West, Costco last I checked still has their 45 lb buckets of wheat for cheap. I buy other stuff at Winco and Honeyville. Beans are still cheapest at the LDS cannery. Things like sugar, salt and rice are more expensive at the LDS cannery. My favorite grain is popcorn at Sam's and it is around $32 for 50 lbs. it can be sprouted or popped or ground into a sweet corn meal, etc.

If you live in the Intermountain West there is a thread that talks about places to buy longer-term food storage. I'll link it here when I have time...http://www.lds.net/forums/preparedness/43553-sources-supplies-3.html#post724552

ps Just be aware that as the price of food goes up, what is in the #10 can goes down...some cans are only 50-60 percent full now. Also a lot of foods don't do that well in hot termperatures.

Edited December 19, 2013 by lds2

[Guest roabbitisbubs]

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[Guest]

I'm following that site's advice and making a list of some of the staples we use daily. Hopefully I can make a good shopping plan for stocking up on those things.

This really doesn't answer your question. If you're interested in land and cows, you can think about having a backyard/patio farm. This will require a little bit of effort to go with your money but it has the same benefits of land and cows - it's not a food storage, per se, it's a survival skill with the benefits applying to today and in case the country experiences a break down of the supply chain.

Things you can do with an urban backyard in an itsy weensy space:

Aquaponics for veggies and fish.

Rabbits for meat.

Quail for eggs and fowl.

Once you've experienced these techniques (especially the kids), it will give you a valuable skill that you can apply to today's table to minimize the commercial chemical-laden food sources and improve knowledge on health and nutrition. It is also a very valuable skill when the time comes that you need that food storage. Additionally, the kids can learn how an animal becomes food that is very different from reading about it. Interestingly, I found out I have a big problem butchering a rabbit. I butchered my first chicken when I was only 8. I can butcher chickens and quails all day long, but there's something about that silly rabbit!

But to directly answer your question, how I started was to analyze what my family eats everyday and buy more of the non-perishable ones. Then instead of grocery shopping for the pantry, I raid my food storage to fill the pantry and go grocery shopping for the food storage. The only problem with this is that my kids raid the food storage too. Now that they're pre-teens, they've been eating me out of house and home and food storage!

Edited December 18, 2013 by anatess

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